##VIDEO ID:Muey5Fvaat8## for hello everyone welcome to the um Human Rights Commission meeting of for the city of Rivier it is now currently 512 and we are in the city council chambers thank you for everyone who's joining us today and I am calling the meeting to order before we start our meeting I would just like to have a roll call of Commissioners um after I say your name just say hi okay sov chair sha husseini here um commissioner Molly McGee here commissioner Karu pitch here commissioner Dr Garcia here Vice chair St batist Baptist here commissioner sea lari here and for the the remaining uh Commissioners Dr um sorry Chief Callahan will not be joining us for um the meeting tonight we'll move on to our land acknowledgement we acknowledge that we are on native land the land of the Paw Tucket and that we invite any native um Americans who live in the city of river to join us of any meetings current and future um to join our meetings and we would like to have them join our family here at the HRC um additionally I would like to um read our mission statement before we move on to the approval of the minutes whenever everyone is ready the mission of the re Human Rights Commission is to promote human and civil rights and Empower all people of R by ensuring that everyone especially the most vulnerable and marginalized have Equitable opportunities equal access and are treated with digity respect fairness and Justice thank you everyone I would also like to um acknowledge that we have a special guest with us here um it's no um feel free to say hi he's a fellow student at R um High School um so if you want to say hi feel free good evening everyone my name is nor Shore and I'm really honored to be here today I would thank everyone and I'm I'm a student I'm a freshman at Rivier high school and I strive for perfection in all that I do and I'm very honored to be here today thank you thank you for coming and joining us nor I would also like to acknowledge the people in um in the in the audience thank you for you folks for joining us for today's um meeting it's going to be very exciting I can't wait till we um engage in the conversation we're going to have especially the um whatever surprise we have for the city of ReRe um I would i' like to um set a motion um just have someone to approve the minutes from the October 3rd monthly meeting motion to approve the minute second before we move on to the meet of our of our meeting I would just like to acknowledge any of the monthly acknowledgements and events that we have for the month of November um November 1st was the start of national Native American and Alaskan Heritage Month which is going to be a big part of whatever we're going to do for um today's meeting um the first um November 1st was also Day of the Dead or um Dia deas mues which is a um a holiday that is celebrated by many Spanish and Hispanic um cultures around the world and here in River as well um November 9th was World Freedom Day November November 9th is World Freedom Day November 11th is Veterans Day November 13th is World kindness day November 16th International Day for tolerance November 17th is international students day uh November 20th is transgender day of remembrance no November 28th is Thanksgiving and November 29th is Black Friday um is there any other events that you folks would like me to acknowledge while we're here no for anyone who's watching our meeting is there any if there are any events I haven't mentioned um or holidays I haven't mentioned for November or any other months please go to the Human Rights Commission website and submit a um a request for us to put it on the calendar when possible thank you um now moving on the thing that we're going to be presenting is the documentary that ultimately came off from our trip to Plymouth um in honor of um in honor of indigenous people's day so uh whenever we're ready we're going to move on from here and then we're going to make our way to the circle thank you on the coastal Waters of the South Shore there are the ancestral homelands of the Wampa noag tribe prior to colonization by the English the Wampanoag inhabited the waterways marshes and forests that surround Plymouth Mass the name Wampanoag derives from wapan which means people of the first light a fitting name for a tribe that lived where the Sun would rise over Massachusetts Bay each morning prior to English contact in the 17th century the Wampanoag numbered as many as 40,000 people living across 67 Villages composing the Wampanoag Nation these Villages covered the territory along the east coast as far as Wes ausa today called whth all of what is now Cape Cod and the islands of net and noepe now called Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard and Southeast as far as Pocono now Bristol and waren Rhode Island the Wampa noag lived on this land for over 12,000 years on Thursday October 17th the Rivier Human Rights Commission and students and staff from Rivier Public Schools set out to gain a deeper appreciation for our local Native American history and Culture by traveling to Sacred indigenous lands in Plymouth that were home to the thriving Wampanoag tribe led by strong Oak leev executive director and co-founder of the visioning Bear Circle intertribal Coalition Inc the group first traveled to Plymouth puit and later to the tidar sanctuary in Native American culture strong Oak is a symbolic name representing strength resilience wisdom and longevity it often used to signify a person with a strong character deeply rooted in their Community much like the physical qualities of an oak tree itself it is considered a powerful and positive symbol across many tribes the purpose of the visit was to understand the struggles the indigenous people have endured over the centuries of colonization while recognizing the strength resilience and survival of their cultures histories and communities the exposure to the indigenous land allowed the group to travel back in time and connect with the spirit and soul of those who lived on this land before the arrival of the Europeans reflect on the inaccurate and false narratives taught in our textbooks for centuries and Foster crosscultural understanding and appreciation for the indigenous cultures and their rights to ancestral lands before entering Plymouth pet strong Oak gathered the group for a tobacco ceremony Native American tribes have used tobacco for Spiritual and medicinal purposes for Generations it is Central to indigenous culture spirituality and healing as strong Oak explains tobacco is one of the four medicines given to walk in balance with all beings on Mother Earth we offer tobacco to our relatives we ask permission to walk among them wherever we [Music] go here the group watches the ancient art of constructing a michon or canoe for Wampanoag families mishun Boats were invaluable tools for fishing trading and transportation the most common michon style was a Dugout constructed from a single Pine Chestnut or oak tree michun are shaped using fire stone axes and various other scraping tools at ploth pit the group met modern-day native people some are Wampa Noak while some are from other native nations the group talks about the way of life and a culture that continues to thrive with a contemporary interpreter from the museum The Interpreter shows the group the rabbit stew he is preparing using traditional methods and local ingredients found in Plymouth like wild onion and other vegetables a wetu is a domed Hut used by Northeastern Native American tribes such as wanoa they provide shelter sometimes seasonal or temporary for families living near the wooded Coast as they hunt and fish witas are made from sticks of the red cedar tree and the frame is covered with tree bar or mats made from grass or Reeds these structures could last up to 15 years before the trib's clan would move to another part of their ancestral homelands and allow the Earth to rejuvenate so this kind of model is still happening and um like this one like they leave it and come back after 45 years when they do the other lodges now for the teaching lodges they're up for about 3 years and then they take them down and a sh of way then they build it back up again so this is like kind of throughout came back cuz this whole area was kind of um in the migration pattern going down uh we were supposed to get to the place where the where the food grows on the water where the white rice Gres we were all supposed to migrate and and the prophecies told us we were supposed to do that from here I shared that with you tid Marsh sanctuary in plymouth's mant section is within the region of the Wampanoag tribe who in earlier times maintained a fishing Weir at the mouth of Bartlett's Pond nearby its Outlet to the sea is sometimes known as Herring Brook the name manomet means bearing of a burden referring to the baskets used by the Wampa Nook on Trails between their settlements at pit Plymouth and Cape G the largest freshwater ecological restoration ever completed in the Northeast took place place at this site converting a working cranberry Farm to a wildlife preserve among the many benefits were the return of river Herring and muskrat back to beaverdam Brook after a long absence yeah can't go change the world if you're not changing yourself I believe so Creator we are gathered here today and first most with gra gratitude the beauty of creation which we are just one part of um we are connected to all life forms in particular we have reverence for the natural world and we learn and we heal much when we're in the natural when we're out in nature um grandmothers grandfathers four directions elements um we're here today to gather together to walk upon this land and um we just give it's just we're just we just have so much gratitude that's mostly what we have and we have permission to all can be with you we have a toap offering here go get started these are actually tobacco seeds oh that you oh thank you you plant you know and have to thank you so much would you a place for so for everyone to be able to um just want to yeah we have enough I think um that we're on your territory here we visitors visitors of the Heron wank whove been here for 15,000 years and know and be good if we could each say our name you know like um we are aown as Sin and we come here as a desit and we ask permission that we' be able to empty your lands if anybody would like to yes I'll pass mine around here you take it in your left hand you want your hand that's Clos to your heart or take it out yeah take it out which I was bad and oh yeah whenever we do ceremony we always take the tobacco and closest to your heart is even there's always a re if you want to say your name or something you can a word or two right Grandma want to say something yes well I'm PR I am thankful and I'm grateful to be on this land and I appreciate the grandmother grandfather for the Seventh Generation for letting us be here on this land and welcoming all of us so um forever thank clockwise everybody's got character can with you yep if you want to sa little something when you drop it time will go slow you want land that isn't inherently ours just means that we have to take care of it more um we have this sense that if something is mine I could you know I could treat it however way I want it to treat but the fact that this land isn't our just me we would have to take care of it a lot more um and that's something that we have to spread that message to inter it's kind of it will take some time but this is the first step is just putting our ourselves in this position to really be vulnerable and now like the next step is to take whatever we learn here and really um uh disseminate that within the community so I can't wait till we continue discussing about what happened today but I am over I'm really happy the fact that we're all here as a family um I think at this point in the HRC his true we are indeed a family so yeah I just want to thank everyone for that all right so first I'd like to thank some vul also uh likewise of many others already expressed thank you for being here thank you for being here for being traveling 3 hours in a row uh Gail thank you for your wisdom I learned that g uh served as a nurse 48 years that's a long time and it's another profession also that likely uh other professions there the nursing profession is very important so uh and also I would like to thank all the commissioners for being here Steve uh from the city uh uh asan you know from the city as well and everybody and Tony um yeah Molly for being here you know this is John for covering this event this wonderful event he's been here with us uh since probably 7 7 a.m. thank so uh this is a day for deep reflection uh what I have experienced on this land is amazing personally and I hope collectively we all have experienced that um I'm just looking around I see the trees uh I see the ground I see marks I see Stones I see everything things that probably you don't see every day because every day you are either in school in the four walls or you all there doing something else so what I can say is that uh the Lessons Learned uh from this trip today uh will be the foundation work uh as we pursue uh our visioning of building a strong Equitable community in Rivier R needs us R needs people like this uh you know to pursue or to push the work forward there's no other way around it we have students joining us now uh there's a lot of Education that we need to do we have come a long way in rever there's a lot of things that positive are taking place in our city uh that's something we have to knowledge uh but I think we considering our demographic changes and the number of students and families that we have in our city it is important to continue to push theel this is the beauty of our city and also for the human right commission so we have to keep the respect and the love and this is this is the important thing and also to bring this to the community and to our next generation we when we look around yes we I see this land we all came from this land we have the same skin you know what I mean so I love this and I I'm happy that I will be able to go back and even tell my kids about my experience today so thank you again you're reflecting upon today and putting it all into perspective it the Nuance that it adds to The Narrative of the founding of our country really puts into perspective that um the freedom uh the very Freedom we feel like looking around this reservation um it shows that it it really puts into perspective that it came at a cost um the cost of lives on indigenous people and how it was taken over so stuff so um really being here and being away from the city it it's really Mindful and really brings a lot of peace to your mind while at the same time it makes you realize how the freedom that we preach every day of living in this country came at such a volatile cost I am so so grateful to have been invited to be here to be a part of this circle to have people listen to my words to speak about issues about inclusivity as an uh immigration attorney advocating that people be treated equally um when they are migrants in an area I'm honored to be able to come back to indigenous land and be uplifted by indigenous people in this quest for equality for for everyone and equal treatment on land that isn't even ours to be regulating I am reminded about where I'm from where I was born uh when I visit such sacred land and I'm so pleased to hear from my fellow Commissioners about how we're all reminded about something being in this land and it really is something that I wish we could bring back and give to our community in rever and remind people to join us that it's nice to be included but it's essential to be included and through that inclusivity we're really getting to a place of belonging for everyone so thank you so much to my elders that shared thank you for that song that you would share your wisdom that you would know that we need you the younger generations and that the younger Generations would listen then you would listen and take it in continue to sh I think especially being here and being here with you today um and just everything that we witnessed um it just it's adding to that I think um with being able to knowing that I'm going back to a space that Prides itself in quite literally claiming land that was public before and then colonized and then made public afterwards when it was never our land to begin with never our space to even make it public again that we're all part of the problem and we're all part of the solution too because like when things happen in front of us and we don't address it which happens a lot where people are afraid to say their truth or speak um their experience because they're afraid of things that could happen even the woman today who was afraid that uh we were going to to um bring controversy to their space and where we see that even there today there's not an adequate addressing of what happened to indigenous people here does not the way you know if it's somehow or other the whole concept of forgiving oneself if we knew how to forgive ourselves maybe it wouldn't be so hard to be accountable to say you know look we will you know we're a part of really a wrong that happened here and let's how can we move forward together to to work on this and and Indigenous people are really generous and O open to that like we understand that we all have to go together and that everyone's related and so even those of us I mean even if you had a a child or someone you knew that was in trouble they will grow more by loving them rather than you know making them feel like they can't get up off the ground after after a mistake or something so I'm just thinking about um how upsetting it is to come to clth and see all those opulent mansions and to see the grudging amount of space they will uh acknowledge uh for indigenous people the overwhelming feeling that we get when we come to plummet and even more so after seeing the little amount of space that was given to the pit Village as opposed to everything else is that they wish for us to know not be here anymore so they wouldn't have to feel uh that what they wouldn't have to see that we're still here and then they could rest easy like they could be we could be their mascots comfortably you know they still try to make us mascots even today and uh um so there's a sadness that I feel about it but when I look at all of you and I feel the hope of what's coming when when I look at you nor I just feel yeah it's in good hands you know because it's one heart at a time and there's no shortcut to this and like you're one of the ones that are going forward and we think a lot of you have come into the world at this time um and that we're your elders and we need to be supporting you we need to be accountable for what we've like the Legacy that we've given and we need to demonstrate what it's like to move forward together even in the face of All This calamity that we see I mean I'm looking at people that not on their homelands and why not some taken away without that permission and other people are here to be in a better place for their for theirselves for whatever the reason there's a purpose in coming and then when they arrive look at the mess that we that we put out there we're not who we say we are in the world you know we're not as welcoming as we need to be and and we're not as Equitable but that's where we're go and places like this can fill you up when you're having a tough day so we hope you visit a lot this is how it was for everywhere when the land was free voice your concern your excitement your opinion um because in my um culture this's a saying called the B which mean um you are the generation of manhood um so I mean not man human kind yes that too so um I will do anything in my power to make sure that there is a real pure love and empathy and peace and Equity there um knowing that October is domestic violent awareness month and a lot of violent that happened on the street also happened at home there's this a lot of violent at home that stem to other violence on the street as well so um I want to be part of that Community Solutions and all kinds of violent um gender based violence violent against women and children and all kinds of violence and and really modeling that and um I have seen a lot lately that people you know it's like instead of cherish Embrace people who are kind instead they take advantage of people who are kind um and yet I still encourage people who are kind still be kind you know don't have all of those animosity really changing the way you are um when I was with the teacher you last week learning that a lot of kids need lots of guidance and support from the adults um especially around what is healthy relationship what is consent what is boundary what is respect so I just want us to for me make a commitment and also want us to really looking and reflecting within our how how we contribute as an individual to all of the is like grandmother strong said we're also part of the solution we are part of the problem we also part of the solution right there always solution to every issue so um I know my commitment that I'm going to always reflect on myself not just to be hopeful but to stay hopeful to forgive others to be respectful to be mindful and to care about others and to be grateful grateful to their parents grateful to their surroundings grateful to the opportunities they get I'm really grateful for my parents for raising me this way and teaching me how to be a really a good students just to be respectful and always push me to do the right thing and I'm really thankful today for receiving an invitation from Dr Garcia to come here because after seeing everything and meeting everyone I just you're all so kind that I not expect that I would be in an environment where I would find people that actually cared and had when made us go to lands that do not only belong to us but to everyone so everyone can just be fair so you can live in environment where it's not going to be 100% but we need to work to be 100% no one can be perfect nothing can be perfect that's why we always have to be try to improve there's always room for improvement people may forget everything many people forget things but they'll never forget how you made them feel that is very important yeah that we must work to help each other I was seeing myself these kind of people you won't find them like kind know anywhere I said to Dr Gracia this morning I think people like kind of three activists we need those kind of people around us and we need these people in this planet because that's the only way we can protect what we especially this land you have a land like this and I was talking to about like kind of the fear I have on the upcoming years probably another 50 years what will happen to this land do this land going to be insist building claim okay look we want to put apartment on it so we're going to need people like know to continue like you know to make like be aware of the the kind of this country because we l we in massachusett we have some people like kind of have different ideas about like kind of people living in the South uh when you're talking about like when you take like kind of 13 colonies States we not the same as like kind other state we have a different mentality we have a different mind but I think we need the kind of to continue to work together the group of like I know the other state to teach them like I know how to be together to respect each other to make sure like I know we don't preach violence we make sure like know that we know we all in this fight together black white we all have the same blood it doesn't matter you white you yellow you like kind of any colors when you get pinched by something it's you see blood coming out he doesn't come in as a black as a y it came out as how's you good go ahead oh yeah us be cautious for what we seen what we do so we make sure everyone is included inclusive yeah that's so important the inclusivity yeah you're so young to know all this I I just I love being here with you he does that for all of you right I really like this envirment yes no so you came with his group yeah visit visit a place uh called CL and especially the all these indigenous sites that you saw and uh experience you getting and uh so when you go back to your family in school what message would you like to share with your colleagues and tell them about the wonderful experience that you got with last year what are you going to tell your family today when you go home was it worthwhile was it something that you were not expecting uh what about tomorrow your colleagues at school okay so when I go home I'll tell my parents what happened I'll tell them how much I've learned about the indigenous people and the way they lived and the way everyone should be respected and treated fairly and just learning about today and seeing how people lived back then and just learning about their history and how they were treated and how they came here and made and made their way of life everyone should be treated fairly so tomorrow or any day when I go to school or any environments I always think that whatever I say whatever I do I have to keep in mind that everyone has feelings and we should always respect each other and our culture what I think about visiting places like this it always reminds me about the importance of building cross cultureal understanding um among people from different Faith uh different beliefs experiences and so on and so forth so just being here with all of you um I can see um you know the collegiality growing the understanding of uh each other growing um I've learned things that I probably from um some of you uh that problem did not know about so visiting uh places this morning and now here reminds me about how small we are as you know and small not in the sense of being um diminutive or you know uh demeaning uh as but small in terms of sometimes we believe that we are these grandio right and there's a common denominator that unifies and bring us together and what we see is the circle of people it really give me hope that there's always a better tomorrow uh it gives me hope that you know certainly there is something that is in us that makes us the people of the world we are one people after all it doesn't belong to me I know that but you know we belong to the land and land belongs to us it's a two-way street a lot of times you know some of my other friends they see the whole thing as stewardship but stewardship is yes it's good but that's all about you doing something taking care of the it's got to be a reciprocal thing right and that's one of my father's uh my father used to say that you take care of the land it will take care of you you know just me here I I feel different you know but it just moving away from the great City the cities the noise and being on a land that is very secret and it's you know that is you can feel the Purity uh of this place just even the air that you breathe uh is totally different so uh my I two sentence you know uh that if I would put one message together for us for us to be uh United uh stronger and whenever we have an opportunity to learn and go and share uh the knowledge there's nothing that replaces um you know uh experience that you see you experience in the real place uh textbooks is one thing learning from the field is a total different ball game so um if I were to put my Reflections together I thank you for uh the opportunity and thank you for uh being here today uh I we enjoy it we sing to the rocks to acknowledge them as keepers of ancestral memory as we conclude our day together in This Magnificent Plymouth historic district we invite you to reflect deeply on today's experience and take actionable steps to educate our children and others about the wampanoags rich history culture and tradition as well as how these elements relate to their land and way of life we believe that this self-awareness Journey will help us understand the grief and suffering that the Wampanoag people have undergone for Generations allowing us to take conscious steps toward creating a more Equitable and inclusive society as we honor American Native American heritage month we invite you to be a real social justice Ambassador a change agent and an advocate for the downtrodden [Music] um before we move on to the debriefing of like whatever we experien at the at the marsh and at the Museum I would like to give credit where credits due so thank you Mr John Lin for directing all all all that you've done from being there at 7 o'clock in the morning and uh recording everything that went on that day from the beginning till the end um and just being a part of the creation of such an amazing documentary so I want to thank you for that as long and with Dr Garcia I know that you folks work in accordance with each other so um I yeah like I said I just want to give credit where credits to so thank you very much for all your efforts and being a part of that Journey with us you were a part of that um process just as much as we were so and thank you very much for that so um we're just going to take a small recess so we can move to the circle and then we'll restart from there thank you e um Str you I'll just have e e e e we all right oh we need to use the the microphone okay the turtle is glad to be back after it's met all of our voices have in it um but uh when we go to South Dakota in the summer we will bring back um you know a turtle I'll show you pictures and you can tell me which one you want me to bring back cuz they're all different kind and they're all different colors so that'll be a gift for the Human Rights Commission all right I see well I'll make sure that you're on that you know what I mean I won't get it until everybody says I might get a couple oh yeah HOV here representing yeah well they um I wanted to before we go I wanted to say Kevin fast horse is um you can't buy these online he has a consignment with the Prairie Edge um after we Sundance everybody goes to Prairie's Edge and they have amazing things there that the people from Pine Ridge they made and and it's all on consignment and so he has many of these Turtles and Kevin fastor he's a direct with relative of people um he has relatives that were massacred at Wounded Knee so his family um you know in the center of the Wounded KN Memorial is where the actual all people who were um massacred were and their families are all around there and U you can see like the generosity and because there even is a section over there for the Episcopalian Church so they have their own section over there I think there are a lot of people who also belong to churches as well as through their Traditions that's my um take on it every all the reservations that we go to um they found a way to make a bridge so uh but Kevin fos family um they have like their relatives are buried outside and this is one of The Descendants so I uh plan to write to him and let him know um how many voices that how much this has meant to a lot of people you know to to be able to sit in circle and tell our stories so I guess we can start our Circle today so it honored the grandmothers and the grandfathers and the grandparents of the East we send our thoughts out in appreciation for the value of Truth and honor uh the value of being honest in circle um that the uh trust that what we do and all the stories we tell for our healing are our way to Bridge and come to some truth that none of us will ever fully recognize In Our Lifetime here but by sharing our stories together we can get some proximate way of addressing that growing from that um so and and whatever um everything is carried directly above the clouds by the eagle who run who rules this direction they are the medicine of this direction and they travel across the clouds and what beautiful clouds we that were in that video from where we went we were really blessed with clouds that day they were exceptional and the eagle flies above them and Carries what we have in our heart Direct to to the Creator however we call that that one and uh so we send our thoughts out that that be present in our Circle today grandmother's grandfather's grandparents of the South the place of the black deer where all medicine comes and comes from the Deer family Deer family is very kind and very caring and when you look in a deer's eyes you just feel this love coming from a deer and they're not like the strongest but they uh have a big heart and the way they are with their families they show a sharing they don't take everything like if you um if you see how they are they have one Sentry watching over while the others are eating and if there's plenty food there they move on and leave for the next and they run the same rounds every day so they they do their work in a circle and and they have they know that there are other relatives coming behind them and they are um source of all medicine our grandmother's grandfather's grandparents are the West this is the place where the bear lives and the bear teaches us again about Community uh recently um Grizzly 399 um was touched many humans and she found a way to use humans to Shield her babies at Yellowstone because it was easier to keep her baby safe from humans uh you know present there who are actually honoring that you know her presence who lived to be like over 28 years old and had many babies and um she was hit by a motorist they actually brought her remains back to Yellowstone and she will have a place of honor for all the joy that she brought human beings as well as all the babies she brought into the world so she has one baby now that is left but she had was tagged you know so they could follow her and they saw how she took care of her baby so in the west Direction it's about how we take care of our children how we take care of our community uh and then this is uh where the bear lives and we can a ask for you think of the bear it's big it's vegetarian it's really pretty it's not a violent uh animal at all really and the only time they get really really Fierce is when their babies are uh you know threatened so then they become Fierce mamas like we all would be grandmothers grandfathers grandparents of the north uh this is the place where the turtle lives and this is the place where all of our ancestors are with us here today and they're looking at where we are right now in terms of the history of the United States and how the United States is viewing migration and and how um it's going to be pertinent to our conversation today so we send our thoughts to gem do Creator Allah however you choose to you know call the one who sees all of it who is all of it is all gendered all all things the source of all being um looking down at us and saying wow you got a lot of work to do and we're here for you and be there for each other and Mother Earth she'd be fine she'd be healing you know she Mother Earth with all the things going on and the likely uh all the bombings that are going on that are Hur hurting Mother Earth and you think about she didn't have consent to any of these things but she's being bombed and uh and then she's being polluted and she's really being really treated with such massive disrespect um so but she knows her power and she will rise like Phoenix out of the ashes and she will shake W upon her um to heal because there are a lot of ways to heal we see it happening the earthquakes the floods the fires and the Hurricanes so we send our thoughts out that all of these Elementals come in Balance when we come in Balance so that there doesn't need to be such violent upheaval in the weather pattern so we send our thoughts out so today we honor mother earth and then uh today we can maybe start with checking in where we are after seeing the film where we are after the election um and today we're going to be talking about indigenous day and what it means here in this community and um what what it means here in Rivier and what it means for all the communities live in in in Rivier who represent just about every community in the world lives here in River it's a very diverse place so just what's on our heart so I'm going to pass to you uh Kuru we got two talking pieces thank you grandmother strong Oak and thank you so much for traveling all the way here it takes 2 and 1 half hours to get here one way three hours and I don't know what to say it takes kindness and generosity that's all I say it's it's the love and it's the heart that brought bring you here um how am I doing today um I have so many mixed emotion I'm going through different waves um after the election and also um commissioner SAA reminded me that one thing at a time so I want to be fully present here um that there is an opportunity for us after watching um the fil that we had the opportunity and privilege to be together for one day um hosted by grandmother strong Oak and also um girl I'm reminded that we need to do more work our journey we have a long journey to go good evening my name is nor and I would like to thank everyone for being here today and I would like to thank Dr Garcia for inviting me here today and I'm really grateful to be here and I believe that after going on that indigenous people's field trip and visiting all those indigenous sites and watching the documentary we're always going to look at our past we're always going to blame others or ourselves but we always have to be responsible we'll always look back at the past but we cannot prevent that from us moving forward we always have to strive so we can make sure we create an inclusive environment and we should always do that together because that's when our voices are heard the most so thank you so um thank you that's wonderful well stated so um just thinking about the experience that we all had uh traveling uh together to Plymouth just to experience the land um that once um um officially belonged to the natives but then you know um were um grabbed by those who certainly came here and thought that they are the champions of the world let's put it that way so it's certainly um just being there watching everyone watching each one of you you know talking and see the way you express yourself and the behavior you manifested in that particular you know on that particular you know site um it was just an amazing experience uh it started here in Riv um we went to a lunch or a breakfast uh in the morning building the collegiality I really felt um that we're part of one team and part of one uh group that is really committed to change uh what has been done in the past and continue to reflect on ways in which we can continue to um educate people in rever our students current Generations um just take a look at the wonderful uh documentary that we put together this is a document that probably will serve it's a strong Foundation we set that many people probably will use to if they really want to certainly the intention needs to be there just to reflect upon upon the experience reflect upon um the commitment that this group has expressed why we went there we could have been probably at our workplace but we decided to go there explore it understand because sharing um knowledge of a place like that with others is critical so that's the piece that really I'm very excited about and I think we should do more of those type of things moving forward so that's the piece the educational piece as far as the election go goes certainly there's a lot of things to talk about um and I don't want to um start hypothesizing or talking about these or next you this step and next step and so on I don't want to do that I don't think I'm you know I I'm in the right mindset to do it now but what I can tell you is is that this is the time that we need to um continue to capitalize on and uh never give up double down our efforts if there's one thing our mission and vision needs to be reinforced in such a way that we continue to really educate people people this is not time to give up uh or you know um you know or um you know believe that this is the the end of the world actually this re reaffirms our belief system what we really think about what's going on in our country and work together to uplift those whose voices have been overshadowed for many many years and continue to fight so um I don't have anything else to add I think it's too uh early to draw any conclusion or to start the point you know hypothesizing things so I want to reflect on what happened uh work with you all of you and my colleagues uh on this journey of transformation that because certainly we have a lot of work ahead of us but I don't have any suggestions or ideas to uh provide at this time time thank you Dr to once again I would like to Echo what everyone has said so far which is thank you very much jongo for coming once again to our meeting and thank you for everyone who had participated in um our trip to Plymouth um I've never been there I mean I've been to the museum before but I've never been to that exhibit specifically so I'm glad that I did this time and um which just shows how much our education system just doesn't like talking about the Native Americans um and I'm glad that you know Mr nor has joined us on today's meeting as well so I'm glad that he came here today and I'm really excited to see how we debrief around um what we experienced then and how that ultimately does tie into everything that's going on with the election um I agree with Dr Garcia about like it's really too early to really draw any conclusions but the thing is it just shows why we Implement Circle practice at a very at a very Municipal level and why it should be implemented on a very National level because even in the beginning of our democracy the first president mentioned to never choose sides or ultimately divide the country and that's where we are now a divided country and there have been multiple times since the the reestablishment of the Human Rights Commission where we've all disagreed on things but because we were doing it in such a way that we know how to be cordial with each other we ultimately claimed to a conclusion and we we had results and I think that's exactly what this country needs is just one big circle to talk about all of our issues because we just don't want to talk to each other about anything um yeah that's that's that's all I have to say I'm really excited to where the circle is going to take us thank you and Terell again um I have some information for the commission if it's okay to present I'll do that in a second but I do want to talk about the election a little bit um as most of you know I've been reporting on things that have been happening in the city for quite a while now and about four years ago not unlike the Native Americans I was targeted I was tried to be silenced by certain people especially those that work at this building they came at me pretty hard and it was a collective effort and it was hurtful and I lost a lot of friends so I was going to vote for Cala but I found out that the people who say a lot their actions and their words don't exactly line up so I voted for Trump and I did so with the knowledge that my Justice would be that the people who targeted me would also now be targeted and that would be my Justice that's cruel but the hardship that people put me through was terrible so that's how it is I would hope that we could all get along and be peaceful but sometimes you have to be a warrior and that's really hard to do so now that that's over there's been some scanner traffic that I'd like to share with you I'm there's work going have time for the open forum for the things that aren't on the agenda you can definitely speak about them may I just submit them you could keep them with you until um I mentioned that we're going to have an open Forum okay so we could um finish with the circle just so you have time to talk about what you want to talk about okay that's all thank you thanks and speaking about the documentary thank you so much to the school department and John and Grandma another strong Oak for creating that what a momentous thing that we've done for R I hope that this will be a trend for future generations and for future years to come I as a student of History self-proclaimed enjoy learning about things that I was never taught learning from people who have passed through their generations and their me means of safekeeping stories knowledge that I've never been privy to as an immigration attorney I am grateful to be in this circle after the election um because immigration is such a political issue in this country and this is the only space where the irony seems to be ever present when I look at the people in the circle around me that we are still acknowledging this stolen in land that we are mishandling as we regulate the migration of native individuals in the 21st century and my job is is a very um heavy burden but some of us do have to be Warriors so I'm happy to be in the fight with you all and in the circle thank you um I'll be saving I guess my thoughts about Tuesday and its results until we do the open Forum because I have more of like a statement I guess to give when we're about to close um and I'll just spend my a lot of time like speaking on celebrating everything that we've done in this past month and this documentary and spending time with Grandmother strong Oak even before that with our Circle training because all of that has my mind like just been the greatest culmination of what I think we have needed as a Human Rights Commission um just to like set the tone for all the work that we want to do and that we have shared that we want to pursue um so yeah thank you so much thank you so much Dr Garcia and John isn't here but thank you so much if you see this later um for really just even having a record of what we did um because I hope that that will stand to be a powerful thing that inspires other people in this and just other people who um look at what we do and understand that like we're not just people who gather around in a circle once every month to like just talk and say grandiose grandstanding things and not actually do things um so thank you so much for doing that and taking the time to do that um so carefully um I just wanted to highlight a couple of things from that documentary that even watching it back um it was kind of a little bit of like a Bittersweet reminder um one was um grandmother strong Oak had mentioned something um about how like even in the way that we were greeted when we first arrived upon Plymouth um in the museum um I don't want to get bogged down in the details but it definitely continues to transcend that Colonial Legacy of like feeling entitled to a space um that they really should not feel entitled to um and that was really heartbreaking to have to witness both when we were greeted as well as when we um went further into um experiencing the museum um and trying to learn and take it all in um from what I recall from my first visit back in 8th grade which was I'm aging myself a little but like 10 years ago it was a very shocking shockingly different um different experience um in a lot of ways um and I hope that not only us but I hope that um maybe a lot of things will change outside of just R including the way that um Museum curators and Museum um attendance and um just everybody involved in like recording and protecting and safe G safeguarding like um cultural and historical legacies and stuff are um just taking all of that into mind and even us as visitors um I hope that we can have more continued like honest conversations that we did this past um visit um and doing those powerful Reflections because I think that those are important um and there is something else from the documentary that I wanted to highlight but I'm not recalling at the moment um oh I just wanted to also highlight again or reemphasize something that I had stated in the documentary which was um getting to spend a lot of time not just in Plymouth but in the tid March um Sanctuary um was really bringing me back in my mind to um a conversation that we had last year the first time that we did Circle when I had attended as just a Riv resident I wasn't yet a commissioner um and uh we were discussing a little bit about like Columbus Day and what it means and such and I had brought up the fact that um you know independent of Columbus Day and whether or not that should be something that we celebrate or whatever that um there are other similar symbols of white supremacy or reminders of white supremacy in our city that also likewise need to be addressed and discussed including the fact that like R Prides itself and sells itself on being America's first public beach which is a very eurocentric view of R and and um as a city I hope that we can move towards being more um thinking more sensitively about how that's just a very eurocentric view of history and the reality is it was public land beforehand um and it's only been made public again postc colonialism so yeah and then I want to just thank you all again thank you today for coming um it's great to see familiar faces and and yeah I'm going to pass to Herby thank you you thank you um grandmother uh Oaks I think um you deserve um a totally like kind know extending Mo motivation like kind know for you to drive like kind know three hours to come and then to be part of like kind know this um meeting on this circle uh you will not find someone like I know will come drive like kind know three hours because you determine like kind know you love what you're doing you like what you're doing I think you love the work like kind of you see that the are commissioner doing and then you want to see how you can probably help us like kind know do something um I really really appreciate that you know from the bottom of my heart I can know say thank you to you for taking the time like kind know then as I said that on my documentary we need people like you uh we will not find those people uh like you and then we need to continue like kind know especially like Noah like kind know young men like this like kind know to make sure like I know to see um the kind of service like kind know you're providing like kind know to the community and then like kind know to see like kind know how we can get young people to get more involved that said uh I have been Pont like kind know for many time I work for the union for over 25 years you know I bargain contract we have like kind of n home in Pont that I go back in contract with u our members we have tons of members we live in Pont I never know that site until like I know uh you invite me like I know to be part to go in that um you know field trip um and then for whom like kind know Shaya the chair like kind know Dr Garcia I believe like kind know go like kind know you part of like kind know get like kind know the uh this uh visit you know like kind of schedule like kind know to do the field trip I think you know all of you guys like I know I say thank you to you guys like I know for taking the time like I know to do it I'm not a big uh history guy I'm more like know because um I read a lot but I'm more like kind of focus and other stuff like know but I'm glad I was able like kind know to go to visit a land like kind know a native land like kind know Native American land like kind know where people uh used to live all that said like I know I think um myself um coming from this country uh that was a great experience for me when John did like kind of especially documentary like kind know that's going to be some kind of me for us for our kids for our grandkids like kind of to see like kind of what we have accomplished as a commissioner because like I know I think um I don't know if it's like know sh or Dr Garcia say that I think you know as a commissioner like kind know we need to set some example for all the like kind of commission you know part of the city so like kind know we not doing just like kind of sitting like kind of behind you know the deck like kind of the podium like kind of our name like I know we go on the field we do the work like I know that's going to improve like I know people that people going to see what like kind of commission is supposed to do because um one more thing I will said when they recruited me like kind know to be part of the Comm the human rights you know commission uh I was like kind know I said let me think about it because like kind of I being part of like kind of for the union I live in River for 21 years I never like kind know participate like kind know any Community work like kind know because I was constant like I know to do the work for the union but 5 years ago I decide like I to get involved like I know more like I know to say if I live in this city I need to get involved more on re but when you look at like kind of what's going on the human right commission is the most important commission when you're talking about the commission that's going to defend the R of people like kind know in in R so that was part of what like kind of make me excited like kind know to be part of it I said look it's something I need to come in then by be like kind of part of the commission with the group of people like I know I'm surrounded like kind know I'm very pleased I see like I know you guys like kind know I feel like kind know you're part of a family like kind know part of like kind know a group that we can all of us you know can trust like kind know we can do some work together how we can improve like kind of the city how we can improve like kind of um you know our family people like kind know live in the city so I just want to close like kind know by coming thanks for coming again like kind of to be part of like kind of a uh a me like kind of someone like kind of that come to be part of like kind know this meeting I think you know one thing I will I'm admire by you saying like kind know you I like to see be like kind know someone honest like kind know you're not like kind know by saying like kind you vote for Trump no one like kind of will come and say vote for Trump that's something like kind know I admire you honest and you say like kind of up front like I know but some other people will not say that and then this is the kind of stuff like I know we get Trump elected because I can know with 50 plus% because some people we have lot Hypocrites you see people around you but they never tell you who they're going to vote for until like kind know things happen you know like kind know hey how this guy become president but you know I will save the time like kind know when we start talking like kind know maybe I can say more about like kind know the point because I have a lot to say but I don't think I we will have enough time today to about the about the election thank you for your time again like kind thank you uh when when we went to that day um I remember I was like kind of pushing us to like move on to the tid marsh land one of the regrets what we have is that it was you know we were losing light and so we get get to you didn't get to experience the fullness of tid Marsh we would have had to go near where the ropes are you would have seen the the animal um they're incredible but they were too far from us to see them uh my first visit to tidos was uh Blown Away by The Animals the whales and the different animals the Hawks and it was very pronounce that they were in the stones and like was really a really amazing example of how Spirit and the land were together like that and um and we spent a lot of time in the other place and I would is aware of how those folks are really into being those Blue Bloods like they wanted to you know hang on to the oldway of St Plymouth I could see how they took the better spaces to the water I could see how they didn't bother to respect the people who lived there in the winter and saw how the wos were built so that those wos um that were so warm inside that they they needed very little wood to keep that very warm and that they you know were there for a fall and winter and it it would be 85 in there and 45 out there and I knew that the housing that they were building the colonist that came were not going to keep them so warm like that so but if you ask you say you live here so you know how to cook the food here how to be with the food here and um how to how to to have a warm house it was probably ENC couragous you to think that they left that dwelling they left it all behind and they went off and never to return to it for 45 years meant that there was trust that it would be there when they got back like how many people can say that about their housing that it would be there when you got back so when I looked at this you know and then I look at tidm Mar what I felt and hope you felt it too was you could forget that any of this happened when you were on that land you could feel it healing and coming back to what it once was it it showed like how if you put a man-made thing you impact the entire ecosystem like so where you build matters like the the fact that the Heron are now moving is because they took out the manmade pond that's what they did they took out the pond they took out things and really like indigenous people feel if you do that you the limb will be heal and return to where it was so um so it was like kind of sad to me to see all those Mansions along the road and how it's become really a tourist trap and then to find out that they're the one place that won't acknowledge to land acknowledgement I was stunned when uh Gail shared that and not surprised but really almost I don't know if any other place that would do that where they wouldn't acknowledge the those who were here and when I look at that okay after the election when I heard I watched everything I watched both conventions Republican and Democrat I watched what was said I listened to those rallies I heard people being called rapist I heard I heard people the other candidate being referred to as a that her name couldn't even pronounce correctly and that she couldn't string two words together what I heard was this man was talking to people who don't like women 41% said that women have too many rights they don't want women to have rights they can't Define their mess without being Supreme and that he spoke to that he spoke about racism he spoke about talking about immigrants like they were the lowest of the low he talked about he was going to take Vengeance against his enemies so when you said this I'm thinking I wasn't here to hurt anybody I always sit in circle and I feel really bad about what you went through but I didn't do that but now because of this election you say you don't know what's going to happen I know what's going to happen I know right away what's going to happen they got the whole Senate the house and the whole thing they won't have to listen to anyone I remember what happened in 2016 I remember this person did not do any conventional thing he brought nepotism into the White House he brought his whole family into the White House he began to put children in cages at the border I don't need uh I don't I don't he told people to drink bleach he's responsible for countless deaths he did not he was responsible for the economy that this poor administration had a fix and did and inflation is going down but things take a while to fix so I feel really upset because I feel just like people don't out know our history I don't think people know what the hell's going on I what I see all right when the first time he got elected I know friends of mine who couldn't get out of bed for two weeks these were the survivors these were the women who were now told it was okay to rape them that we actually elected a rapist we actually have two people on the Supreme Court who people said hurt them sexually they were not believed think about all the children who are being harmed think about all the women who have been sexually assaulted in my community a lot myself I uh I've been heard I I had multiple um people who have raped me and I'm I'm I'm like all my sisters who are indigenous have had those experiences and so no it's not it's I know what we got I know women are going to die they're already dying I know that he's going to try and get it so no one they're going to try and do a federal mandate I know that it's Vance who's going to run this table here I know that he the 2025 I've I've looked at it I know what they're going to do and what they're going to do is they're going to deport and they're going to make camps because they know how to do it they have nothing in the way of keeping that from happening however when we sit like this it's you you give me the Hope because you are what we have to do your parents and what they did and what they taught you this is what we need to teach we are responsible for this mess we live in a country that could genocide out a group of people who could force people in boats to come here against their will and not take any accountability for that black and Indigenous people here are going to pay dearly and me as a two spirit my wife and I we got some protections right now because of what was done in the Supreme Court so that we could protect our property that our marriage would mean that if one of us cross the other one we get to higher Social Security there's economic concept quence we're next on The Chopping Bo Clarence Thomas said that after roie way they want to go after us so no this is no joke to me I know what's going to happen I know what's going to happen and I think that we got a lot of work to do the day after the election I could not I was in so much grief that I couldn't believe people were running around in their cars I said it was like a funeral for me it was like it's going to be a funeral for a lot of people I know and you know what I think we're going to lose the rest of all in I think he's going to come and take it all I think there's nothing in the way now it's olar look at it Elon Musk in the White House someone uh in charge of the health department that doesn't believe in vaccinations yeah I mean look at look at this I mean I know what's going to happen and I need to be ready I'm not I know it's going to be worse than I even could imagine I had a big dream Monday I thought it meant that he wasn't going to get in what I dreamt was there was a big plane and it was shaped like plane but it was all like like really dark cloud like a plane and it got and hovered I wasn't afraid I was just watching it it came and hovered right on the where I live and then all of a sudden the head of the cockpit turned and it became like an animal head like a snake it looked right at me and then it started going back where it came from but it started to dissipate over the trees so I thought this meant that it was going to be close we might not know for days but then she would pull it out and I am sad that it even was this close I mean we're going to we've lost our democracy now it's gone that's what I I was in such grief over that because as pitiful even as that is it's now it now it's in complete autocracy now Ukraine gone Poland next you know Gaza gone there's not going to be any help for those folks Iran too you know this is this is a bad bad mess so that's where I'm at and I had a hard time I wrote I said are you still meeting today because I didn't know how I wondered if you'd all be in grief like me and maybe this is too much to even talk about but I just want you to know that I am pretty pretty up on on on the structure and pretty up on politics because I've just had to be and and when I see your town here you you have no idea how it makes me feel so good to see you here and then for any young people like you and for people who are going to go the resistance cuz some of us are going to lose our life over there some of us are going to have to do I got one more thing to say and then we'll move on to because what we're talking about is deep indigenous stuff here oh my God I I I'm I'm I'm I'm kind of scared but I'm not operating from there because I would be willing to to die for these things I would be someone to go across the Pettis Bridge people 65 and over we all went overwhelmingly for karma because we had to fight for this stuff we're the ones that had to get Reproductive Rights we're the ones that had to say a man couldn't rape his wife and that was okay we're the ones that had to say dating someone didn't give you authority to rape them and take what you want you know and now they're telling little kids if you if you get pregnant by your own father you have to carry that child all that to make sure you got a white baby born cuz that's what it is they're afraid that there won't be enough white bodies so they're making even children bear the bear the babies I mean that's as crass as it is that's it it what it is is I mean you think about this why would anybody want someone to carry the term a baby and at the same time they continue to keep people of color from having babies and they talk about going back to when you can't they want to go back to when you can't have into marriages anymore they've all discussed this stuff it's all been put out there he said it in his rallies Pure White races that's what they want so here I am here you know we're we're we're here and and we're living in this really diverse City and and a lot of the people in your city uh they don't know the structure if you immigrate here you may not know the structure because it's not where you came from and that's not the structure that you're in you know it takes a while to catch on to what this structure was meant to do and uh clearly it's to keep you know white male Supremacy in place so but anyway um so I think it's important that when you go forward that maybe people have conversations about structure history um understand you know what went into the Constitution understand that people were seen as 2third of a person for economic reasons understand that amendments had to be added to it and then now you had someone in the presidency who doesn't want to go with the prostitution he may try to throw it out and everybody may vote right in with him you know and I don't know if they can stop him because the Supreme Court won't stop him and now they gave immunity that you could commit a crime if you're the president without being accountable so I I mean humorously what I thought is they Biden should retire and therefore K Harris could be the first woman president and then she could say and do with immunity some of the things that may be that I wish it would happen it's not going to happen cuz nobody in the other party has ever done anything like that they've always done peaceful transfer of power people voted for somebody who did a coup on the White House that man couldn't stand to lose I hope that's not a value I don't think your parents taught you that you could name call people if you lose an election you you should say that it wasn't fairly won uh that you should raid to school and start acting like you're going to take over all the power and you're you're going to you know try to get votes that didn't exist and you're going to force people to go to court over and over and over again to prove that you had these votes you didn't have um you know I mean no other person that I know of has ever done a thing like that and that's who we got now so I'm sorry I didn't vote for it but I'm sorry for that you got a mess now I'll be here for you you ask me I come and um all all of the indis people I know they go farther than I drove for here 3 hours maryel and Baker who's one of my amazing people who was at the you know comes here to the state she's she's a clan mother with the lay in Wisconsin she would drive all the way from Wisconsin to Florida because her daughter's best friend died she got in her car she's 83 years old and just drove down there so my 3 hours nothing okay so I'm going to end here but I want you to know I'm feeling really bad about this election I feel grieved by it I feel sad that we have so many people that hate women like this that they what are they saying to their daughters I feel bad for the mother earth cuz nobody is going to check them the the the pollution is just going to you know it's just going to all the checks and balances all the green that work has been that's been done all done all done now oil oil oil that's what it is so I'll stop you know I could just cry all the rest of the time but I'll keep my cleaning um thank you grandmother um for your Insight your wisdom the struggle is real and the struggle is real for bipac community for indigenous black people of color regardless how you slice it I am worried for the Survivor that we serve mostly women and children and also lgbtq survivors men who are Survivor domestic violence and rape and children um who might not have all the resources that they need and they will not find a safe place to go so that has been the worries that the staff at habac has been talking about the resources is already scarce and it's going to add more scarcity and pressure there will be more violence um and yet despite of what's going on in the world I trust a community a lot of work that have been done a lot of support that has been given is given by the community by my neighbor by the people sitting around here [Music] um and the community as a whole so I trust that will come [Music] together I trust that the community will share resources and what's going to happen is real and I do not want to ignore it I want to be prepared because I'm not and I'm speaking from being a South Asian woman I'm not even speaking from people who is in the margin of the margin like black community indigenous Community um the people who don't have the privilege unearned um don't have the privilege like you know others and I agree with you I think we should be prepared and we just must be ready for the future and we have to we should always work hard and persevere and have resilience it's very important we must never give up and we must always work to strive for a better future so no matter what hard hardships we face or what hard things that come in our way or what obstacles that come I believe everything happens for a reason so what we must do is we must endure through and we have to work hard together thank you for me I'll be brief um I think one of the things that characterizes the Human Rights Commission is the fact that it is an organization by Design to really watch um what's going in our community in our society and what's going on with those whose voices um have been historically done um to advocate for them uh the Human Rights Commission by definition a Watch Dog organization so that's our job and um it really when grandmother strong Oak was describing her experience and the experience of many other indigenous people who have gone through um awful times uh you know um that were subject to uh subject to sexual exploitation and uh raping and many awful practices that took place it really you know it touched me profoundly I knew that I read it from textbooks but one thing is when you read information one of the thing the other thing is to endure it uh yourself so uh there's nothing that that compares to that so certainly I think and it's a suggestion I'm going to make here uh because of the time constraints we we don't have time much time to really um uh go deeper into the um causes and effects or consequence of this election I think I'm going to you know challenge the team maybe to schedule 2hour conversation about the uh post elction what's coming uh here we are talking about the agenda 2025 if in fact that agenda materializes the way it has been conceived I've been reading about it we have a country that basically is going to be very we get equit it with an autocracy so that's what it is and we know uh you know I have to dig more into the information I read but that what appears because a lot of restructuring that will be taking place starting with you know the replacement of a lot of restructuring in education a lot of restructuring restructuring in the way the government runs the structures uh there's a lot of structuring in terms of even eliminating the Secretary of Education and put all the powers in the hands of the states um a lot of you know um the whole Dei effort will go away this is all outlined in the agenda 20125 so um the whole you know racial critical theory it's another thing that's probably will go down down the tubes all the progress that we have made probably will be targeted so I want you to do a little bit more research and do some reading into it because I'm not sure if that is what um uh you know what's going to happen but if you read the document that's what you're going to find so I think we have uh Community Based organizations we have school leaders we have students with us we have uh strong um you know uh grandmother strong Oak that has been a lot of work in terms of uh structural racism and um and and uh systems and uh of racism and you know the way the structure impacts uh people of color indigenous people and people from other intersectionalities and so on and so forth so I think we have an opportunity here to put our heads together to really uh debunk and see what first we need to analyze what's happening what really was being you know happen then we need to do an analysis and then outline a um a plan moving forward in terms of what will be our responsibilities and roles in the seed of Rivier in light of what has come up what is emerging from the field we have and that's only that that can only be done through a session that we can have where we can come much more prepared with ideas and design a plan for the future because one thing that really we need to do is to be always proactive what what we going to do um the climate will be different um the situation will be different um you hear about the massive deportation going to take place that's his that that that Donald Trum Trump's plan that he said it clearly um that is going to take place um so there's a lot of things to think about we don't have time to to to Really uh discuss it now I think I suggest that we plan it and do it thank you Garcia I think the Silver Lining is if there isn't if there is even one is that it gives us more of a reason why we should continue doing our work um because the minute we stop and given to the way that things are we're just being as compliant and conformative uh conformative to the state of our country and that's not we were made to do the whole point was to go against the status quo and really ch all these structures are in place so time if is indeed of the essence we just have to keep on going with the things that we're doing and never stop and grow even more um because this is what our country needs at the moment um it might seem futile at first but even the smallest of decisions smallest of actions can lead to a bigger cause um and lead to a bigger effect I think um you know speaking from like a Muslim perspective here um you know our religion started as a way of going against the status quo and the same thing that was told to the prophet at the time is the same that I'm telling everyone here is like the minute that we stop is the minute that we're just like them and that we're letting them win so um yeah I I just I think I know I sound somewhat optimistic but this is like the reality of it all is like we have to not make ourselves give up and just keep on going cuz the minute we give but we are we are just like them so that's all I have to say I just would like to preface what I said earlier a lot of people may not be aware what I'm a gay man um that took a long time to say when I was 14 I was chased down my street with a tire iron because I was starting to realize who I was and started to be a little bit more open to this day I still have nightmares about that experience um took me a long time to be honest with myself for some crazy reason I started to report on the problems in the city people didn't like that very much they did for a while like I said I was targeted people tried to silence me it get so bad there were huge stones in front of our house that we had to move into the backyard someone claimed that I wasn't safe around children it got really really bad and it would involve people who work in this building and people who work in nonprofits in this connected to this building I have the proof that being said I always thought myself as a kind generous person always wanted to be but the hypocrisy and the nastiness that has come out of this building has just been unreal in the last four years not necessarily anybody sitting here we have had a superintendent of schools share an anti-semitic resource that made national news and nothing has happened the former Dei of rever was seen with a hit list a gun and a noose nothing happened quiet resignation there's been multiple other issues including some of them I have here in the last month Riv is a machine I've lived here 57 years I know how it works we have a high school building committee largely of white people in a minority majority school district nothing is said it only happens when the system or the machine is challenged so that being said I challenged the commission to challenge the the system to speak out against it and promote real change it is not enough to sit here at a circle and talk about Columbus and all these other things which are really important but there's a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done in the last month I've documented a couple of things for you to help you out November 3rd on hasell Avenue there was a neighbor argument one neighbor made racial statements against another September 30th 2024 on all the nav there was vandalism and words were written spray painted on the property that were apparently racist October 16th 2024 at Walgreens racist graffiti was sprayed on the fence may I make that per thank you here's a picture of it it was blotted out by the author thank you the word starts with N andr I'm sure you can fill out the rest here it is for all of you to see fortunately the the ugly word was erased I'm sorry the the enler here it is it was blacked out by the author just because people would be so offended of it I challenge you to look at these things talk with Chief Callahan I hear it all the time please as a gay man your work is essential it is not enough you to go down to Plymouth and those things are important but there is a lot more to do I really really just urge you with the information I've given you talk to Chief Callahan talk to Mayor Keef there's a lot of pain and there's a lot of anger in this city people have been suppressed in the city for a very long time in the riv Journal 30 40 years ago a city counselor said that land has to be developed in the city or else it would be only good for blacks take a look around look at the people hanging on the wall they're all white they're almost mostly all men and some of them if do a little digging did very questionable things and some of them may have even been involved in slavery now no one wants to talk about this but I will because I guess I'm going to be the brave one so in closing I just ask you to really do some heavy lifting a lot of people are going to be angry with you but that means you're doing the right thing thank you thank you Mr Terell I appreciate calling people in to do the work with us and um we as a commission will always hear the words of the residents of our Vier calling the mayor and the chief of police to join us in this work um I second that mayor ke Chief Callahan we'd love for you to join Us in this work for the issues that Mr Terell just brought up I want to use my very limited time to just name that um the majority of white people white women and white men were the cause of electing Trump and as I sit here as one of the only white people in this circle I want to call in the Allies that are outraged and um feel that they don't know what to do feel that they want to do more and support their communities to do this work um to raise your voice to be brave to um call attention to other people that have harm being done to them um so that we can be joined by the things that bring us together instead of divided by the things that keep trying to separate us I want to use and Elevate um and acknowledge people with privilege to do good in our community and to step forward and look around us um come into the light bring others um especially white men of power in this community um with you so that we can all do this work together thank you so much we're not doing like a separate public forum um sure I'll make that like the last thing that I close with before I pass on to Herby um I want to start by saying um acknowledging um um uh everybody's honesty and um and and rawness that you brought to the circle today um but in particular grandmother strong Oak thank you so much um and um our fellow R resident Ed um for sharing particularly what I imagine just were very horrific memories um because you didn't have to share but thank you nevertheless for sharing not just in the circle but with basically the whole city and whoever Cho chooses to watch this um I think that your stories especially as people who are older than me who have seen so many other things not just in rever but you know uh in this country like those are very important stories that we need to to be able to remember like how important it is for us to continue to fight because people like you our elders have fought for their ability to be who they are um so thank you so much for that ronus um I want to take a moment to apologize to grandmother strong Oak I um I feel terrible that the first time that we were going around it did not address this but um maybe you did not mean to say this but when you likened being targeted to um the genocide of Native American people I'm sorry that you had to hear that and I'm sorry that when I had the opportunity to speak that I didn't address that I should have addressed it sooner um I'm sure that you understand but just for anyone else who is watching I just want to be entirely clear that that is not something that um that is those are likening something like being targeted which can be a horrific and I can imagine traumatizing experience is not comparable to the greatest genocide in world history it is simply not um and I want to make that clear and I'm sorry that you had to hear that um yeah and I also want to just state for anyone who in the future may want to join our Circle we are obviously open to welcoming anyone in here but as a reminder that um with radical honesty that we have all practiced here today comes radical um accountability and so if you want to participate in this circle um just keep in mind that you're not just coming in here to be able to just say whatever you will and harm people that to participate and sit in circle is to expect and be willing to accept accountability for things um and that is how I myself feel personally as well like when I show up here I expect to be able to take some sort of accountability for things as well not just be able to say happy nonsense um for the sake of creating Community um yeah um I guess just oh to address the what appears to be a hate crime I think we definitely need need to be in contact that should that should actually be information that should be if it hasn't already been directed to the police department okay wonderful um we can definitely speak at our next meeting about um what we can do about it but we definitely need more information including like who the victims are if they're willing to come forward how willing they are if they're willing to press charges also I think you mentioned that Walgreens I'm interested to know if that company is interest has just decided to like let that go or not um so all that information is definitely stuff that we need to know before we move forward with anything but thank you so much for bringing light to that um and I also want to just highlight that I'm sure you already know this because you report on this type of stuff in R all the time but this is not the first what appears to be a hate crime of its kind in rever um beyond the examples that you gave just a couple years ago I think 2020 um someone decided that they wanted to spray paint a swastika and I think they spray painted white power or something on the side of the road um of a Moroccan Family's car so um it's unfortunately this this is not the first of its kind but um this time around we have Human Rights Commission back then we did not and yeah um and just as my final closing thing the thing that I was going to save for when we do like like an open public forum um I was just going to say like all of you I have um so many fears about what is to come but I want to say this not just to my fellow Commissioners but to anyone who is watching and particularly anyone who feels emboldened because uh we have a democratically elected dictator back in office that this time is not going to be like 8 years ago at least not in rever eight years ago we didn't have a Human Rights Commission we didn't we didn't and so much has changed in the past four years and just because he's come back does not mean that things are going to go back the way that they were and so for anyone who felt like it was okay four years ago to do stuff like that or who thought earlier this month that that was acceptable things are not going back they're not if you are a person in power in this city and you felt that it was okay and acceptable to refer to black and brown people in this city as cockroaches in 2017 don't think that you're going to be able to get away with that this time because this time I'm here and I'm not a child I'm a human rights commissioner and I'm here not only to speak for the rest of the city but also to protect my fellow Commissioners so if anyone else also wants to show up to our human Rights Commission monthly meetings and share some of the abusive things that they have in the past This Time It's Different I'm here and I got time thank you thank you um as I I think we should be in like I know at 7 so I will not say anything more thank you mother Oaks for coming in and then thank you Ed for being participa in this meeting again thank you very much the one thing I would say is the incident you had I said thinking about getting all the people that were involved who witnessed who are all unsafe because of those actions to sit in a circle and talk about what they're going to do about it and um take action because I think um I I love this this particular Human Rights Commission I think this is a do something group and I think maybe you feel that now cuz like she said like it's not going to fly without you know people coming forward and saying that and not we don't have that hate in our town in our city we're not going to have it and like I think the plan is for having circles in the community and like having um things where people feel safe to come in like you felt I felt safe to share you felt safe to share if if these circles make things safe to say and then an action can come out and then you got a community that's taking responsibility for helping each other that's where it's at so that's you know I thought this was a great circle today and um you know I will come anytime that you want me to come because I kind of love all of you now I'm in relation with you and um you know this is nothing to drive over here when I see what's going to happen and the young people on this committee the balance of Generations on this committee is really incredibly important and like the young person coming here from the schools and and then seeing other young people too not too far from where you were you know they're still young in in my mind I'm a little agent you know I'm a grandma so so anyway I guess maybe if we had a one-word check out that we would say say um myself we would say we were energized and maybe that one thing we can do before we get thr up hopeful productive reflective man I don't know words I have so many words um I'm ready you put my word welcoming motivated I'm going to say it again ready I am ready you took my wi uh uh participation and so our circle is done for today thank you be uh before we end up the meeting I would like to just say that regardless of what happened um on Tuesday where's the camera okay um whatever whatever happened on Tuesday whatever the results were I we I'm going speak on the behalf of the Human Rights Commission we do not condone any violence that's not what we're here to represent the whole point is for us to like we mentioned in our mission statement to be there and to represent those who are marginalized and minoritized in our community we we do not condone any vience if we if there's any other violence other than the stuff that Mr ano has gratefully presented to us today we will gladly take upon it we will put our foot down and that which is what the uh Human Rights Commission is here for um if there's anything that to move on to continue on from Mr Ono's challenge to the Human Rights Commission I challenge the people who run the city as well to actually come to our meetings and actually hear the things that we have to say um most things that we're seeing right now are all reactive but nobody's being proactive and I feel like other than us that's something that the city has to really focus on considering the fact that our dii director is not here with us today just says a lot about the structure that we are trying to fix um and uh if there are any other incidents there is the Human Rights Commission submission that there's ways to anonymously reach out to us in order to understand and things are going on in our city do not be afraid of talking about things that are going on in the city whether it be personally whether it be for someone else the the whole point of the Human Rights Commission is to protect human rights and that's why I encourage the people of the city to stand up for their rights and really report on the things that are going on in their lives so that we could find ways to protect each other I think going on from whatever happened on Tuesday just be prepared for the CI you know citizens of Riv just be prepared for us to be a lot more outspoken about the things that are going on in our city considering the fact that they've gone violent over the past couple of years so I encourage everyone to do that before we um I on I would like for someone to set a motion to adjourn the meeting um all in favor say I I that being said the meeting is ajour thank you very much for the Commissioners for joining us for today's meeting and thank you for people online who are watching us for joining us the meeting thank you very much and have a great evening